Skipping, skimming water toy

ABSTRACT

A skipping or flying hydrodynamic water toy for children and dogs designed for recreational use upon and across a surface of water is provided. . . . The toy preferably is an equilateral triangle with concave sides and rounded vertices and includes a pliable body, or upper external layer of neoprene which is laminated with or without fabric or and has a natural buoyancy, and lower external layer of same material. The upper body preferably forms a relatively thin outer shell that extends laterally, through a smooth curve defining a peripheral region. The lower body is of similar design to provide minimum drag and maximum hydrodynamic performance. Since both external layers slope downwardly and upwardly respectively, they provide minimal toy contact with water thus increasing skipping characteristics and throwing distance. The interior cavity is filled with plastic pellets or some other material that can increase the buoyancy of the toy and adds weight to increase throwing distance. The upper and lower layers are sewn, melted or chemically adhered together to form a tight seal to prevent interior cavity material from escaping.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to skipping or skimming water toy for children and dogs for recreational use, and more specifically to a water-skipping/skimming toy for use in a swimming pool, lake, pond or ocean. Many rigid flying discs are available that provide a throwing and catching recreation, with a flick of the thrower's wrist imparting a spin that enhances the water toy's aerodynamics, are well known. These inventions all are based on a disc shape which is not well suited for skipping on water. The design and choice of materials of this invention cause it to substantially outperform these designs providing better aerodynamic lift, smaller percentage of product contacting the water surface and yet being capable of evenly dispersing water carried thereby throughout a major portion of its flight. Additionally, since the invention is made from soft pliable material it is substantially safer than other inventions. With a free flowing fill material, the centrifugal force is dramatically increased substantially outperforming other designs for skipping distance.

2. Description of Related Art

There are many toys and recreational devices on the market for use in and around swimming pools and other bodies of water. Recreational throwing discs for skimming or skipping across bodies of water have been known for many years, much like skipping flat stones across water. A well-known toy or recreational device used out of water is the flying saucer device or better known as a Frisbee. Such devices are tossed from one user to another, exploiting their aerodynamic aspects to enable them to glide from the thrower to the catcher through the air. However, due to their emphasis on aerodynamic design, such flying saucer devices are not adapted towards skimming or skipping over bodies of water efficiently. In addition, most flying saucer devices are manufactured with rigid material that can injure people or damage property upon impact. U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,840 to Bustamante (1998) discloses a hydroplaning disc designed to skip or skim over water; however, the design of this disc is complex and expensive to manufacture. None of the designs cited utilize any type of free flowing material to increase centrifugal force nor does their designs allow for such a small surface of the toy to contact the water surface. Several other types of water skimming or skipping devices have been proposed. All of which utilize the disc design, can only be skipped on one side, are not safe for users due to hard material construction, are heavy in design and a large portion of the disc is in contact with the water surface.

Examples are U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,922 to Clark (1990), U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,954 to Panse, et al. (1984), U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,046 to Cosmopulos (1983). Cosmopulos utilizes an auger design which in itself is designed to dig into a surface, manufactured from wood, plastic or rubber which is inherently dangerous for users and U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,997 to Glovak (1979) utilizes #80 grit type texture on the entire surface. This substantially hazardous for the user. The present invention utilizes a soft pliable material, is light weight which makes the design inherently safe for users. U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,082 to Hincke (1997) is heavy, requires couplers to hold the 2 halves of the disk together, the majority of weight is centered in the middle of the device thus reducing centrifugal force/skipping distance and likely very expensive to manufacture.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is the general object of the present invention to provide a lightweight skipping water toy that is easily gripped and designed to safely and efficiently skim or skip upon and across the surface of a body of water, such as a pool, lake, pond or the ocean, from one user to another. The invention is a hydrodynamic toy that, in one embodiment, includes an interior cavity filled with buoyant material and outer upper and lower external layer that tapers to an outer edge. The outer layers and interior cavity material provide substantial buoyancy and weight to increase throwability and provide a gripping surface and safety protection to toy users.

The outer external layers include a center bulge that tapers to a thinner outer edge and has a relatively small portion of the toy that contacts the water, giving the toy efficient hydrodynamic qualities that allow it to easily skip or skim across a body of water.

The present invention provides for a multitude of gripping means at exterior perimeter of the toy and can be skipped on either side equally as well.

The simple design of the present invention provides enhanced safety to a user, hydrodynamic efficiency, long skipping distances, utilizes free flowing fill material to increase centrifugal force is lightweight and inexpensive to manufacture.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention may be better understood, and its features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art, by referencing the accompanying drawings. For ease of understanding and simplicity, common numbering of elements within the illustrations is employed where the same element is in different drawings.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a water-skipping, skimming toy incorporating the principles of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a partially sectioned isometric view of the water-skipping toy of FIG. 1; and shows different depths to illustrate the varying composite layers making up skipping water toy.

FIG. 3 shows other shapes 106 and 107 that have been tested and claimed but are not considered all inclusive.

FIG. 4 shows other shapes 108 and 109 that have been tested and claimed but are not considered all inclusive.

FIG. 5 shows other shape 110 that has been tested and claimed but is not considered all inclusive.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1. A water toy for throwing, skipping and dispersing water in the shape of an equilateral triangle with concave sides and rounded vertices 105 comprised of a pliable, external top layer 100 of fabric, canvas, condura or similar material and secondary layer 104 of Neoprene or other type of synthetic rubber material designed to act flexibly, durably, and resist breakdown by water in the shape of an equilateral triangle with concave sides and rounded vertices. Bottom layer 101 of same material as top layer 100. Both layers are joined by sewing, melting and or chemically adhering layers at the outer edge 102; and an interior cavity filled with plastic pellets, beads or some other weight, buoyancy and centrifugal force adding material 103. The fill material 103 can be made either more or less dense by changing fill material allowing for a wide range of weights, skipping characteristics, speeds and distances.

Since the top external layer 100 and bottom layer 101 are identical or very similar, the toy can be thrown and skipped on either side with similar skipping and skimming characteristics.

The external layers taper downwardly and upwardly respectively at the outer most edges 102, thus providing for a minimal portion of the toy actually touching the water which increases the number of skips, skipping characteristics and skipping/skimming distance. The water toy can be thrown in virtually the same manner as a Frisbee, flying disc or flat rock. Users may find their own methods of launching the water toy 105 across water, resulting in any number of skips and in a variety of speeds and directions.

As preferred embodiments of the present invention are described above with reference to the aforementioned drawings, various modifications or adaptations of the methods and or specific structures shapes and materials described may become apparent to those skilled in the art. All such modifications, adaptations, or variations that rely upon the teachings of the present invention, and through which these teachings have advanced the art, are considered to be within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Hence, these descriptions and drawings are not to be considered in a limiting sense as is understood that the present invention is in no way limited to the embodiments illustrated. 

1. A skipping, skimming water toy for children and dogs comprised of an upper neoprene external layer or other type of synthetic rubber material designed to act flexibly, durably, and resist breakdown by water in the shape of an equilateral triangle with concave sides and rounded vertices and includes a pliable body; a bottom external layer made of same substrate and shape, joined to the top surface at the outer rim. The shape is not all inclusive to the design of the water toy. Other shapes are suited for the same purpose and are claimed.
 2. The skipping, skimming water toy for children and dogs of claim 1 wherein the interior cavity is filled with a material that may add weight and/or buoyancy in water. Additionally, the material helps to increase the centrifugal characteristics of the toy thus increasing the spin, skipping and distance the toy can be thrown/skipped.
 3. The skipping, skimming water toy for children and dogs of claim 1 wherein the central core, the top external layer and the bottom external layer are integrated together by sewing, melting or chemically adhered together to form a tight seal to prevent interior cavity material from escaping.
 4. A skipping, skimming water toy for children and dogs of claim 1 wherein the upper and lower external layers are rounded and downward and upward sloping at the exterior to provide lift and minimize contact with water and the toy.
 5. A skipping, skimming water toy for children and dogs of claim 1 wherein other shapes can be used to perform the same or better skipping, skimming and distance characteristics.
 6. A skipping, skimming water toy for children and dogs of claim 2 wherein material used to fill the cavity will provide centrifugal force to the toy when thrown thus providing for better throwing distance and skipping characteristics.
 7. A skipping, skimming water toy for children and dogs of claim 1 wherein toy can be thrown in virtually the same manner as a Frisbee, flying disc or flat rock. Users may find their own methods of launching the water toy across water, resulting in any number of skips and in a variety of speeds and directions.
 8. A skipping, skimming water toy for children and dogs of claim 1 wherein outer external layers can be constructed from various materials which achieve the following benefits: longer skipping/throwing distance, varying weight, buoyancy and illuminated materials such as luminescent paint, chemiluminescent lighting devices and electrical circuits for increased night time use. 